The money was a $5000 donation to a charity, but was put in the wrong account. Photo: 123RF
A woman who received thousands of dollars in an accidental transfer to her bank account says it was more difficult to return the money than expected.
The money was a $5000 donation to a charity, but one wrong digit meant it had turned up in a Kiwibank account she managed.
When she noticed the money last month, she got on the phone to her bank to have the funds returned, but said the process was far from clear.
"Our first move was to actually phone Kiwibank and go, 'How do we give some money back'?" the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
"I was quite surprised. I thought they might have been, 'Hey, thanks for bringing this to our attention well, here's the process,' but the focus was more on them being very clear that we didn't have to give the money back - to the point where the conversation didn't really progress."
She said the money had appeared in her child's bank account and they were trying to do the right thing.
"We pointed out to the family member concerned that someone had clearly accidentally put some money into their account and that the right thing to do would be to return that, right?
"We were trying to role model and show doing the right thing, but really it became a lesson in bureaucracy to be fair, because there were multiple calls that were long, devoted to trying to do something that I thought would have been relatively simple."
The woman said the money's return was eventually brokered. She said they wanted the bank to return the money in case it was somehow fraudulent, rather than doing so themselves via internet banking.
Kiwibank could not comment about the case without the woman's permission, but said it received very few calls from customers wanting to return money. The bank said it had a clear process for returning money mistakenly received.
"Our standard procedure is to inform customers that they can return the payment themselves through internet banking. Alternatively, with their consent we can reverse the payment back to the originating payer bank account," a spokesperson said.
"If a customer mistakenly receives money in their account, they can return the payment through internet banking or receive assistance from our team to reverse it back to the originating payer's bank account.
"If a customer accidentally transfers money to the wrong account and cannot recover the funds themselves, we can request the return of the funds on their behalf."
Banks charge a fee for reversing mistaken payments - Kiwibank charges $45, ASB charges $40 and Westpac charges $50 (half that if it's another Westpac customer).
Kiwibank charges $45 to reverse mistaken payments. Photo: Kiwibank
A Westpac spokesperson also said it was rare for the bank's customers to mistakenly pay the wrong account, or to receive money into their account that was mistakenly paid to them.
"In both situations, we encourage customers to contact us as soon as they notice the mistake."
ASB head of payments strategy Andrew Dodd said if customers received a payment in error, they should get in touch so ASB could return the funds to the sender.
"If customers make a payment to an incorrect account, they will need to contact the payee and request the money is returned. When customers don't know who the payee is, we advise them to contact us so we can help try to track the funds."
Dodd said the banks were working on a system, confirmation of payee, that would reduce the risk of paying the wrong person.
"We are collectively building a system that can be used by all participating banks in New Zealand, and expect to start rolling this out before the end of the year," he said.
"It means customers can check if account names and account numbers match before making a payment."
Banking ombudsman Nicola Sladden said it was more common to receive complaints from people who were having trouble getting money returned after accidentally transferring funds to the wrong account, because it required the permission of the person who received it.
"It is not common to receive a complaint from someone who is trying to do the right thing and return funds that have been received in error," Sladden said.
"It shouldn't be difficult. The woman did the right thing in that case. Mistaken payments can happen from time to time, and it's really important to contact your bank and ensure that those funds are returned to the rightful owner and it shouldn't be difficult."
Sladden said anyone who received money into their account by mistake should contact their bank, and the bank should make it easy to return the money to the sender.
"It's for the banks to do the heavy lifting. The customer in this case has done the right thing and notified the bank."
The woman said she later learned the $5000 was a donation to a community group.
"This is a well-meaning bunch of people in the community, and so for the person that's [donating] they were probably waiting for a receipt or their name up in lights or something, and that never came."
She said returning the money should have been easier.
"We're a busy society, people make mistakes. I think everyone's got their own moral compass. This wasn't $5 where someone just wasn't going to have a coffee next week - it was for a community group."
